Memoirs of a Yakusha

by Angelus Eros Weiss

A child separated from his two siblings. The people who he had encountered along the way to his success, the times full of sorrow and hatred. His first love breaking his heart… Kankurou tells the story on how he became one of the most successful Yakushas.

3. New Beginning

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto because if I did they would all be gay.

OOCness and Alternative Universe

Warning : Some sexual themes, Shounen Ai (It turns out that I don't know when this would show up so… here yah go), foul language

Angelus Eros Weiss here! Chapter 3 is now up! I do not have that much reviews, but thank you to all my reviewers! Anyway, I made Sakon and Ukon older than Kabuto. Anyway, the Kabuki history here… I mixed it up a little bit… on purpose. Since I need a part of its history and since there is not exactly a date here, I do not know. Okay now, enjoy chapter 3 of Memoirs of a Yakusha!

Chapter 3 : New Beginning

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I felt my jaw drop upon seeing the interior, the entrance had a room that overlooked a garden, the sun came in which made everything sparkle. The place was filled with the scent of flowers. Everything seemed so expensive, more expensive than what I saw at my Uncle's home. There were even paintings on the walls mostly of Kabuki actors. I looked at one and saw a beautiful woman, which had half of her face covered with a fan and only showed her golden eyes. She wore a white flowing kimono, which had a silver snake decorated around it. It seemed that it was wrapping around the woman as if she were its prey. Her eyes though, it seemed so alluring it reminded me of the first time is saw a snake at our fishing village. Its eyes somehow hypnotized me, making me just stand there and look at it. Luckily, my otoosan came just in time before it bit me.

I think Orochimaru noticed me staring at the painting enthralled by the woman's eyes. "You seem to be enjoying the painting." He said to me, as he looked at the painting along with me. I looked up at him, he had a sweet gentle smile on his face, not like the ones I have seen him do before. "Want to know something about that woman?" he said, as he continued gazing upon the painting.

I gave him a nod and replied, "Hai, I want to know who she is." When he heard me say those words, he gave out a chuckle and then looked at me. I noticed something about his eyes; it looked so much like the woman's in the painting. Until suddenly something hit me, "You're t-that woman?" I said aloud in surprise.

Orochimaru began to laugh at my reaction and continued walking until two men who looked so much like each other welcomed him. "Welcome home Orochimaru-sama." The two said in unison as they bowed. After bowing, they suddenly looked at me in a way of wondering of who I am and what am I doing here.

"Sakon, Ukon, you must've noticed Kankurou, he would be staying with us from now on." Orochimaru said to them as he placed a hand on my shoulder. Kurenai's lecturing me on bowing down to those superior of me had effect. I bowed down before the two. I could hear the two of them give out a chuckle; this made me look up in curiosity of wanting to find out what their laughter was all about.

They just looked at me; well I did not expect them to bow or anything anyway. "The name's Ukon." Said the one with his hair covering the right side of his face, he then pointed at the one with his hair covering the left. "This is my younger brother Sakon."

It was easy to know which is which once I noticed the difference of their hairstyles. Orochimaru then called for Sakon and asked Ukon to show me the way to my room. As we walked down the hall, Ukon began to start a conversation with me. "So did Orochimaru-sama buy you?" He said in a tone that was well unexpected because it seemed as if it was normal to him.

I replied, "He bought me for two thousand yen at the Shiawase Teahouse." I began to think on how Kurenai treated me, she was kind to me in a way but I did not know that she would just sell me to some person like that. I think Ukon noticed that certain sorrow in me.

"Well you're not the first one; my younger brother and I were sold by our parents to Orochimaru-sama." While Ukon said it, a smile still lingered on his face. Just by looking at him, I could tell he is thinking about something. "I think that was about ten years ago when Sakon and I were about ten years old." Even though those words he said sounded sad, he was cheerful about it.

He managed to move on, look up what is ahead of him, and not dwell at the past. I wish I could do the same thing, easier said than done as they all say. I gave out a sigh when a man older than me by about six years at that time blocked my path. His hair colored with the relaxing touch of gray and blue. He had tied his hair in a certain way that fitted him. He had glasses that just blended in with his good looks. He was unique; I have never seen a person quite like him before actually. Though he had such attractiveness, the way he looked at me seemed like I was just some stray dog at the streets.

"I cannot believe Orochimaru-sama would take such trash in." The man said, as he gave out a certain scowl. I knew that he disliked me ever since the first time he laid eyes on me. I had a bad feeling about him but I just cannot tell it.

Ukon just gave out a snicker, "Say all you want Kabuto." He said to him in a mocking tone as he pulled me as a sign that we would continue. He then muttered something but I did not get to hear it clearly, so I did not know what it was.

My room was not that far, so we managed to arrive there after a few seconds. Before he left though, he asked me to sit down and so I did. He sat right in front of me and then started observing me. "Well this is how it works here Kankurou." He said as a he sat up with such good posture, not as I have seen other men do… well okay I have seen Orochimaru do it but I did not expect him to do the same. "We fix our own room, since Orochimaru-sama does not really trust maids. All of us have chores we have to do. This is the number one thing to do, Orochimaru, Jiraiya and Sasori should be called with –sama since without them we would not be living in such a place right now." He then patted my head as a sign that he hoped that I understood what he told me. Well I understood them all. I knew Orochimaru and Jiraiya but who is Sasori? I never have seen him before at the Shiawase Teahouse. I asked, "Neh, Ukon, who is Sasori…-sama?"

Ukon turned to me with no signs that he was surprised of my question at all. "Well Sasori-sama is not actually a very outgoing person, so I'm not surprised that you have not seen him at the Shiawase Teahouse." He then continued, as he stood up and headed for the door, "You will meet him later on, well I will be going now, feel free to explore but remember not to disturb Sasori-sama he gets a bit cranky at times since he's always overworked." He slid the door open and went out shutting it behind him.

I stood up and looked around the room for a while. Then I unpacked my things and placed them at the cabinets. Afterwards, I had nothing to do anymore, well as Ukon said; I could feel free to explore the place and so I did. I walked down the hall and looked down at the floor. I never noticed it was so smooth and shiny before. Suddenly I saw a door, that was somewhat dark inside but I cannot help the feeling but enter. Inside I saw people just standing there facing me. I went closer and they did not even move even a single bit. I then found this strange, I held the hand of the woman wearing a kimono, and I noticed that by just looking at her hand she was not human. A marionette, though there was something about it that was beautiful me, I just could not put a finger on it.

I then heard footsteps coming closer it stopped for a while and then I heard a voice saying, "Someone's in my room!" The footsteps went back but this time it had a faster tempo. I did not know what to do, I just looked to left and right, there was no place to hide. Until a man appeared right before the door, his face had such angelic features that seemed to have a certain bond with his blonde hair. He wore a black kimono with red clouds designed all over it. His appearance before the entrance was like an angel that has descended from the heavens above. I just stared at him.

He looked at me and then gave out a sigh, "You must be the new kid." He said to me as he came closer and looked down at me, "Tell me, what you are doing here in my room?"

I could not just lie to him and say that I got lost. "I just thought those puppets of yours were beautiful..." I said looking down, scared of what his reaction would be. At first, I thought he would think that I am weird. Then suddenly he lifted my chin up and looked straight at me.

"You're interesting, I like you." He said to me with a smile as he began to rustle up my hair. "Well I still have work to do, go run along and play or something." Well I had no choice but to bow and head out of his room.

The next day, Sakon awakened me; he told me that it was the start of our chores. I looked out the window and saw that the sun has not yet risen. No choice, this is how the place worked so I had to go with it. My very first job was to do the cleaning for the kitchen. Sounds easy don't it? Trust me, it was like hell for a kid like me, I was short so I did not get to reach the corners of the ceiling and had a hard time in doing so. After an hour or so, I managed to clean the whole kitchen. Everything was so clean, well that was until Kabuto came.

"Everything so… spotless…" he then reached out to grab one of the dishes, "But it looks like you have missed a spot." He then threw it at the floor, smashing it into pieces along with the other dishes that I have cleaned. I worked my ass off cleaning those things and all he does is smash them. Ukon came with Orochimaru-sama right beside him. Kabuto went to the floor and bowed down surprising me. "Orochimaru-sama, forgive me, Kankurou decided to play instead of doing his chores, I tried to stop him but he would not listen and then he accidentally destroyed the plates but don't worry, he did not destroy them all."

Just by looking at Orochimaru-sama, I could tell he had disappointment written all over his face. He just gave out a sigh and said, "Kankurou since you're new here and you're in that age, I'll leave you of with a warning for now." He then went out in a bad mood.

Ukon then looked at me, he too was disappointed, he just shook his head, and went to follow Orochimaru-sama. Once Kabuto and I were already together alone. He stood up laughing and then looked at me with a smirk on his face. He then went near me, and held my face with his hand. I could feel his nail dig in but good thing it did not pierce through my skin. "Once Orochimaru-sama and Jiraiya-sama have left to perform at a theater of another city later on, you will feel hell." He then threw me down to the floor. As you remembered, Kabuto threw all those dishes on the floor; the shattered pieces caused me to have a wound on my right arm. It had a deep cut but I decided to clean the dishes first.

I could feel my arm flinch at every movement I made while cleaning the shattered pieces at the floor. It took me quite a while; I could not help but shed a few tears from the pain I was feeling. Once I had already piled the pieces. I tried to find a cloth to wrap around it; I searched for a while and found nothing. I then decided to use my shirt instead; I took it off and wrapped the pieces of shattered dishes in it. I then placed them outside. Yeah, imagine me walking around half-naked with a huge bleeding wound on my arm. I remembered myself, swiftly running to my room as much as possible trying to get there unseen. Not because I was half-naked no, remember I am male. I just did not want to let them see the wound on my arm since I was afraid that someone might see and ask me what caused this. I did not want to lie but I had to.

Just about the time when I was near my room, I saw Sakon right in front of me, standing there staring at my arm. He quickly went to me and gently grabbed it closely observing it. "What happened to you?" He asked me with that worried look on his face. At first, I did not answer. Until he started to ask again this time in a much louder tone, "Tell me Kankurou, what happened to you?"

I started to think about what to say to him, should I say the truth or lie about what happened… If I told the truth, would he believe that Kabuto could do such a thing? I decided to tell it through Kabuto's story, "I was playing instead of doing my chores, I accidentally destroyed some of the dishes and I slipped." I said why looking away for a little bit.

"You should have known better." Sakon told me, as he led me inside my room not even bothering to slide the door shut. He sat down and so did I, he continued on looking at my wound and shook his head, "Your arm is soaking in your blood, you should have treated this… what happened to your shirt by the way?"

I just shook my head, "I did not know where to place the shattered pieces, and I used it instead, nothing much." I said giving out a little smile until my wound flinched. My arm was starting to feel weak; well obviously, because I think I lost a little blood… well not a little… you know what I mean. Sakon bit the end of his kimono's sleeve and tore a part of it. The only thought in my mind was how he could do such a thing to an expensive kimono. He tied it around my wounded arm and then said, "This would help stop the bleeding."

Suddenly, we heard a man say, "What's going on?" we looked at the door and I saw the man with blonde hair once again. Sakon quickly bowed before him and said, "Sasori-sama, there's a deep cut on Kankurou's arm."

Surprised, since I never knew that the angelic figure I talked to before was actually Sasori-sama himself. I expected him to look older; his looks were as if he was in his teens or young twenties. The thing that surprised me the most was when I found out his real age from Sakon after a few weeks he was in his forties back then. Anyway, back to the story, Sasori-sama came near and began to examine it. He shook his head and turned to Sakon saying, "Get Neji and tell him to bring some medicine, needle and thread."

Just the mention of needles freaked me out, a needle poked me once, and it hurt. Then I noticed him say a name, Neji, I never heard of him before and I had not seen him. Sakon hurriedly went out and Sasori-sama just stayed there with me. "What happened to this?" he asked me, pressing on my wound, adding pressure to it, to stop it from bleeding any longer.

"Kabuto he…" Once again, I paused for a while, thinking of what I should say. The truth or the lie I told Sakon? If I told the truth to him then if he told Sakon, Sakon would tell him that I was lying or something. So I decided to just tell the story I told before, "I didn't listen to Kabuto and I played in the kitchen instead of doing my chores. The dishes shattered and I slipped... so there you go."

Sasori-sama just shook his head when suddenly I saw Sakon came back with a girl. The girl wore simple white clothing, which seemed to match the color of her eyes. She had long hair, which she tied somewhere near the end. She went near, gave out a bow to Sasori-sama and placed the basket near him.

I just looked at her, she was so kawaii, and I have never seen such a girl like her. Sasori-sama noticed the way I looked at her and then said, "Oh Kankurou, I guess that it's your first time meeting Neji, he will be with you in your lessons of Kabuki, he has been here for a few months but hopefully you two would get along."

I felt my jaw drop when I heard Sasori-sama say that she was actually a he. Well I thought that I should not be that surprised since… the people here are not what you say normal. Sasori-sama quickly asked for the needle and Neji gave it to him with a string. Sakon just patiently looked at what was happening as I heard my heart beat as if a drum scared.

I saw Sasori-sama take out a bottle and then poured something on my wound that looked so much like water but smelled different, so it cannot be water weird though, it did not sting. When he was about to use the needle I quickly shut my eyes and I could feel myself shake. I could feel nothing so I decided to open my eyes and there I saw Sasori-sama tugging the needle making my skin get pulled up. I then decided to watch it, Sasori-sama really knew what he was doing and he did it neatly without any mistakes.

It was only for a few minutes and the wound was already put together by the stitches. Now only, time may heal it. I saw Sasori-sama placed the needle he used on a piece of white cloth and placed it back in the basket. "Sakon, please accompany Neji as he places these back." He said as he continued on looking at me, as Neji went out so did Sakon as the angelic one ordered.

"Later on, will be your studies," Sasori-sama said to me, as I then looked up at him. "You will learn the arts of acting, dancing, music and puppetry." Just hearing him say those words made me excited inside. I wanted to learn something new for a change. In the fishing village, I used to live. Boys like me were only taught how to fish for a living.

As I started my lessons, I did the best of what I could especially when I found out that anyone could be watching. The thought of my brother and sister came to me; I might be able to find them easier that way. Neji became my best friend, we did almost everything together, I remember once.

Sakon was teaching us the art of becoming an onnagata, if you do not know what an onnagata is; let me tell you then. An onnagata is a yakusha that performs as a woman in the play. Some yakushas do this full time but others only part time. When becoming an onnagata one must move with elegance, poise and maybe some seductiveness to boot.

Neji was doing so well on becoming one; he had all the three, which could convince me that he is a woman if I did not know that he is actually a boy. He did so well. When it was my turn, I stood in the middle, Sakon sensei then did a few movements, which he wanted me to copy and so I did. Sensei hit me at the back with a fan saying that I have a rusty posture. He then hit my shoulder saying that I lack grace. Then on the head, telling me that I need to be more alluring. I remember Neji laughing at me at that time.

Tayuya taught us music; she was once geisha but failed miserably due to her bad mouthing. Shamisen, tsuzumi, taiko, takebue, nohkan, geza, o-daiko, voice and hyoushigi, she especially loved the two flutes takebue and nohkan. She seems to act boyishly but still a good sensei even with the intense criticizing. I wonder how an ex-geisha like her managed to get here.

Tsuzumi and taiko are certain kinds of drums especially used in Kabuki but I think you know that already right? While Shamisen is somehow similar to a guitar but its body more squared.

Neji was not able to learn puppetry for Sasori-sama said that he had more hope of being a yakusha than a puppeteer. This made me wonder if he thinks that I sucked that much in acting back then. Puppetry was more than moving your arms and making the puppets move. No, it was more than that, you must make them alive, give life to them as if they were human. In addition, he told me that I would be wearing all black while performing as a sign that I am invisible.

The dances if not taught by Ukon were taught by Sakon sensei. There were three distinct styles of dance, odori, mai and furi. We also learned Shosagoto or "pose business" which used in acting and dancing, it could also be an independent piece which is more concerned with showing the beauty of the dancer's movements.

Odori, it tends to be quite lively, it contains leaps in the air and stamping. Mai, derived largely from the Noh theatre and there is deliberate turning and pivoting. Not like the usual posture where one foot is placed in front of the other. The 'at rest' posture at Mai places the weight equally on both feet. Furi, essentially pantomimic, stage props are often incorporated and will be used as a focus upon which to form a series of movements. The actor can use the prop a fan or maybe something else to allude to the text sung by the chorus or chanter.

Jiraiya-sama taught us the five performance styles, danmari, aragoto, wagoto, maruhon, and shosagoto. I know that you already know shosagoto but the other four maybe not.

Danmari is the oldest form of Kabuki; it is rarely done these days. The simple form only lasts for about ten minutes. It was more like a wordless pantomime. The members of the troupe would appear and display their costumes and special idiosyncrasies. This generally consists of the exposition of a topic that would create extreme differences of opinion between the characters. The scene is always set at night and out doors.

Aragoto, an extremely exaggerated style that projects power and masculine vigor, the literal meaning is 'rough business' and it reflects the brashness, vitality and bombastic martial spirit of Edo. It emphasizes the superhuman qualities of the principal characters with dramatically heightened speech and gesture, elaborate costume, extravagant stage props and vivid kumadori make up. This is where I managed to beat Neji in performance but still I suck at being an onnagata back then.

Wagoto, a complete opposite to aragoto, for the male character, wagoto meaning 'soft style' reflects a more delicate and refined style almost to the point of effeminacy. This is often used in love scenes since… who wants a screaming dude swinging a sword like a mad fucktard in a love scene?

Maruhon, this style was derived from puppet theatre, this became extremely popular. Sometimes the onnagata in particular would emphasize this connection and recreate the movements of the puppets. Unlike other kabuki styles, because the narration produces a slower pace of action, the actors would not appear upon stage until the chanter had set the scene.

He even taught us performance techniques there are a hundred of these but there are three, which are used frequently, mie, roppo and tachimawari.

Mie, it gives out a dramatic touch. A frozen dynamic pose happens which lasts for a few seconds. The yakusha crosses his eyes which is also called nirami. There are several types of Mie, the ishinage mie freezes the simulated action of throwing a stone, and the fudou mie reproduces the pose of the fierce god Fudo with a rosary in the upturned left hand and a sword clasped upright at chest level in the right. More than one actor could do Mie, it could be performed as many as three characters at the same time.

Roppo, it is originally used for entrance but became more used for exits along the hanamichi, the walkway running from the rear of the theatre, through the audience to the stage. Its literal meaning is 'six directions'. There are several forms of this exaggerated style of exit. The tobi roppo, 'flying roppo', involves the actor gesticulating with his hand whilst bounding along the hanamichi in a skipping motion. The kitsune roppo involves the actor leaving the stage with curled "paws" in the manner of a fox.

Tachimawari, this one is my favorite of them all. It is a fight scene with high ranking choreography and such spectacular stunts. There are two types of motion, the slow stylized stabbing motion of a character who is attempting to murder an opponent in a grotesque dance of death, and a second type, which shows a hero, pitted against a group of as many as thirty opponents. My favorite here is the acrobatics.

There was so much to learn, I managed to continue my studies for a few months until Kabuto accused me of theft. I still remember it as if it was yesterday. It was afternoon then, we heard Tayuya sensei yelling that her nohkan was lost and that someone stole it. It was so precious to her, it was made of the best materials money can buy and if sold would make so much. I saw her search everywhere and then Kabuto came out with a smile on his face.

"Tayuya you have checked everywhere but what about Neji and Kankurou's room?" Kabuto said slyly, this scared me and made me think that something bad was going to happen. Neji who was with me even wondered what was going on, why would Kabuto even suggest to her to search in our room?

Tayuya sensei did what Kabuto said and first searched in Neji's room where Neji and I followed her to see what would happen, no flute seen. Then we went to my room, there Neji and I were placed in shock, her nohkan was seen in my things, even worse, it was damaged. As Tayuya sensei held it, I could see her face turn red in anger as she looked at me. "Kankurou you fucking bastard!" this I remembered she yelled right at me as he pulled me out of my room.

She got out a cane from one of the closets and pushed me down to the ground, making me lie on my stomach. "You bitch, after all I've done for you and you do this?" she yelled out, hitting me hard on the back, making me scream in agonizing pain. "I did not do anything to your flute!" I yelled out but she continued on cursing and hitting me on my back as hard as she could. I could see Kabuto with a smirk as he left. Neji tried stopping Tayuya sensei but she just pushed him away and continued. Luckily, Jiraiya-sama arrived at the right time and stopped Tayuya sensei from continuing.

"Tayuya, stop it!" Jiraiya-sama yelled out as he stood there, making Tayuya sensei stop from her actions. I could not move anymore, my body felt so painful. I could not breathe properly anymore. I felt so weak like a rag doll on the floor. Neji came closer to me I heard him say a few words but they all seemed to be unclear. After that, the only thing I remembered was that I woke up in my room with my body still feeling pain all over and Sakon sensei sitting near me saying that I will stop my studies. My hope of finding my siblings faded away when I heard this. I remember tears coming out from my eyes by the time Sakon sensei left the room.

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At last Chapter 3 has been submitted, oh well, I hope you all enjoyed this fic of mine. Please review for this makes me happy! Anyway, stay tune for the next chapter!